For Unto Us...

WRITTEN BY DREW MATZ

It is that time of year again. The temperature has fallen, and the final few leaves still hang from the trees. After a long season of life, nature testifies to us again of the death of all things. We have entered the Advent season.

Something is about to happen.

In an obscure Galilean town called Nazareth a young virgin named Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel. She is told something astounding; that although she has not known a man, she will bear a son and name him Jesus. He will be the redeemer if Israel, and sit on his father David’s throne forever.

Something is about to happen.

A child is born to Mary and her Husband Joseph in the town of Bethlehem. Because there is no room at the inn, the one who will feed his people is himself laid in a feeding trough.

Something is about to happen.

Nearby, the shepherds are in their fields. They are visited by an angel, proclaiming to them the joyous news that in the city of their King, a savior lies in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Something is about to happen.

Echoing Numbers 24:17 “a star will come out of Jacob,” Men from the east approach Jerusalem. They are marveling about the wonders they have observed in the heavens. They approach the savior child in Bethlehem bearing gifts of frankincense and myrrh, and their presence foreshadows the expansion of God’s kingdom to the Gentiles. The knowledge of God is being poured out in all the earth.

Indeed, something incredible has happened.

In obscurity the God of all creation lies helpless, laid to sleep where creatures feed. The tiny hands and feet that lie there are the same divine hands which will be pierced for our sins. He became a child of man, in order that man might become a child of God.

He is, as John tells us, the very word of God made flesh. He has “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” In this tiny child, heaven and earth are joined together. He is the heartbeat of the universe, his divinity pulsating in every word. Yet he was also man. He was dependent on his mother. He became tired. He became hungry. He became thirsty, just as we do.

And In his love for us, he became subject even to death.

This is the profound mystery we celebrate each Christmas. In his infinite love God has become one of us. He lived the life we were unable to live, becoming subject to all of human experience, yet without sin.

As we approach the day of the nativity of Our Lord, reflect on the profound mystery that God has revealed to us in the incarnation of Jesus. By his divine life he teaches us the way of salvation. For you and I the bore the curse of sin on the cross, and by his resurrection he has destroyed death for good!

Let us therefore sing with Mary,

My soul magnifies the Lord,

    and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior